Analysis of To The Spade Of A Friend (An Agriculturist)
William Wordsworth 1770 (Wordsworth House) – 1850 (Cumberland)
COMPOSED WHILE WE WERE LABOURING TOGETHER IN HIS PLEASURE-GROUND
SPADE! with which Wilkinson hath tilled his lands,
And shaped these pleasant walks by Emont's side,
Thou art a tool of honour in my hands;
I press thee, through the yielding soil, with pride.
Rare master has it been thy lot to know;
Long hast Thou served a man to reason true;
Whose life combines the best of high and low,
The labouring many and the resting few;
Health, meekness, ardour, quietness secure,
And industry of body and of mind;
And elegant enjoyments, that are pure
As nature is; too pure to be refined.
Here often hast Thou heard the Poet sing
In concord with his river murmuring by;
Or in some silent field, while timid spring
Is yet uncheered by other minstrelsy.
Who shall inherit Thee when death has laid
Low in the darksome cell thine own dear lord?
That man will have a trophy, humble Spade!
A trophy nobler than a conqueror's sword.
If he be one that feels, with skill to part
False praise from true, or, greater from the less,
Thee will he welcome to his hand and heart,
Thou monument of peaceful happiness!
He will not dread with Thee a toilsome day--
Thee his loved servant, his inspiring mate!
And, when thou art past service, worn away,
No dull oblivious nook shall hide thy fate.
His thrift thy uselessness will never scorn;
An 'heir-loom' in his cottage wilt thou be:--
High will he hang thee up, well pleased to adorn
His rustic chimney with the last of Thee!
Scheme | X ABAB CDCD EFEF GXGA HIHI JXJX KLKL MNMN |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 01110101001101 1111001111 011101111 110111011 1111010111 1101111111 1111011101 1101011101 011000101 11110001 0100110011 0100010111 1101111101 1101110101 0111101001 1011011101 1111101 1101011111 100111111 1111010101 01010101001 1111111111 1111110101 1111011101 1100110100 111111011 1111010101 0111110101 11010011111 11111101 1110110111 11111111101 1101010111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,432 |
Words | 265 |
Sentences | 12 |
Stanzas | 9 |
Stanza Lengths | 1, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 33 |
Letters per line (avg) | 35 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 127 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 29 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:20 min read
- 121 Views
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"To The Spade Of A Friend (An Agriculturist)" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/42456/to-the-spade-of-a-friend-%28an-agriculturist%29>.
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